Christie says he wouldn't pardon unrepentant Trump: 'Too bad, go to jail'
GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said he would not issue a pardon for former President Trump if he were elected president in 2024 and if Trump were convicted of a crime.
In an interview on “The View” on Wednesday, the former New Jersey governor did not hesitate to say “no” when co-host Joy Behar pointed out that GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis said they would pardon Trump and asked whether Christie would do the same.
“No, no, no, no,” Christie said, before Behar finished asking the question.
He drew on his experience as governor in explaining his reasoning.
“As a governor, I issued pardons,” Christie explained. “And one of the things you have to do is look at the person. The person has to accept responsibility for what they did. Do you think Donald Trump will ever accept responsibility for anything he did?”
“It'd be really the easiest pardon decision I would ever have to make as president,” Christie said. “You don't accept responsibility? Too bad. Go to jail.”
Trump, currently the leading GOP presidential contender in 2024, faces four criminal indictments for a total of 91 charges.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office brought two of those cases — one related to Trump’s efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 presidential election and another related to his willful retention of sensitive government documents and refusal to return them, even after being subpoenaed for classified records.
Christie similarly has said he “can’t imagine” issuing a pardon to Trump in the government documents case.
In July, he told NewsNation's Chris Cuomo, “Let’s say with the documents case — which is the only one that the president would have jurisdiction over. Given what’s alleged in the indictment, if that were proven, and … the former president were found guilty, as long as I thought he got a fair trial … I would have a hard time considering any pardon.”
Christie’s comments on Wednesday came after criticizing other candidates in the race for, he said, failing “to tell the truth about” Trump.